Candidates should step up to the plate

Haywood County will have a nonpartisan, municipal election this November and filing for office begins today.

The mayor and all the aldermen in Canton are up for election, three aldermen seats are available in Maggie Valley and two aldermen seats are available in Clyde.

If you have been unhappy about the decisions being made in your town, now is the time to step up to the plate. If you have better ideas about how your community should operate or have a vision of what it could be — stop complaining from the sidelines and throw your name into the hat.

These positions are often thankless and don’t pay much considering the importance of the decisions being made. But our towns need elected officials who know the community, know the issues facing the town and care about making it a better place to live and work.

There should be no room for petty bickering or personal agendas. Decisions should be made based on facts and common sense — not based on being on a certain side or to settle vendettas of the past. Officials need to be willing to come to meetings with background and knowledge on the items before them and be prepared to take care of the issue as quickly as possible.

The towns could use some fresh faces to run for office that haven’t been tainted with previous scandals. While it’s important to remember our past, it’s more important to learn from it and move forward.

You don’t have to have experience as a politician to be an effective local leader. Most importantly — be genuine. Don’t make promises you may not be able to keep if elected. You would be surprised how much voters will respect your honesty.

With all the concerned residents we’ve seen speak up at town meetings, there should be no shortage of qualified candidates. We encourage those with negotiation skills and vision to file to run in November. Come up with a plan and get out there to tell people why they should vote for you.

Qualifying begins at noon Friday, July 5 at the Haywood County Elections office.